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There are memories in London that won’t go away. They span thirty years and each has a name: Cherry Groce, a Black woman whose shooting by police officers sparked the Brixton riots of 1985; Cynthia Jarrett, another Black woman whose death during a police raid on her home a few days later caused the Broadwater Farm riots; Joy Gardner, yet another Black woman who was killed by police officers in 1993; Wayne Douglas, a Black man whose murder by police officers resulted in the Brixton riots of 1995; and Roger Sylvester, a mentally ill Black man who died in police custody in 1999. Now we have another name for these memories: Mark Duggan, shot to death by police a fortnight ago in Tottenham. Just two days after his murder, the streets of north London erupted once again and spread like wildfire across the city, an anger whose tremors were picked up, remoulded and let loose as far away as the north of England.

If these voices are to be believed, then this ‘wolfpack of feral inner-city waifs and strays’ simply awoke one morning and decided to destroy their neighbourhoods. They were greedy teenagers looking for freebies, we were told. Melanie Phillips asked whether the ‘liberal intelligentsia’ (liberalism being a synonym for multiculturalism, itself a synonym for immigration) were to blame. Paul Routledge pointed his finger at rap music. What they were really asking was: ‘Is it because they’re Black?’

When you are this determined to ignore a much broader landscape of cause and effect, you will inevitably lead yourself into such myopic narratives. Looking to race, to social media, to bad parenting, to poor education, to music, to consumerism and so forth is too easy: it begins by ignoring the structural causes of the riots and ends by offering palliatives such as stricter policing, greater controls on technology and increased surveillance.

No. People do not wake up one morning hell-bent on trashing their neighbourhoods. These riots were sculpted from the spare rib of a country laid waste by years of neoliberal social and public policies. The events of the past two weeks took place in a country that has one of the highest levels of socio-economic inequality in Europe. Unlike the rest of the population, the poorest 10% are the only group to see a decrease in their average incomes over the last decade. (The richest tenth, on the other hand, saw an increase of nearly 40%.) In early 2011, the youth unemployment rate rose to 20.3% – that’s almost a million adults under 25 out of work – the highest level since records began in 1992. A tube journey from Westminster to Canning Town will take seven years off a man’s life expectancy and five off a woman’s. This is not God creating Eve from the rib of Adam, life generating life, but death generating death, structural violence on a scale unmatched in human history.

Last week, Oliver O’Brien combined a map of the London riots with another showing London-only deciles of the 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation (published by the Department for Communities and Local Government), which is a method of identifying deprived areas across the UK. Superimposing the locations of the riots onto the IMD layer reveals that most of the trouble occurred in areas of high deprivation, leaving the more affluent parts of the city alone. Last December, The Guardian’s Datablog created a map of all the spending cuts made to local councils in the UK. The cities that were most affected by the riots – London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool – also experienced the severest reductions in local authority budgets. This is not mere coincidence. It is cause and effect.

As if these facts were not enough, the Centre for Economic Policy Research recently published a discussion paper looking at the relationship between budget cuts and civil unrest across Europe since the end of World War I. It concludes thus: ‘Expenditure cuts carry a significant risk of increasing the frequency of riots, anti-government demonstrations, general strikes, political assassinations, and attempts at revolutionary overthrow of the established order. While these are low probability events in normal years, they become much more common as austerity measures are implemented.’ This important study disproves the government’s claim that there are no links between the cuts and the riots.

Mayhem and violence ruled our streets last week. But a greater violence has ruled our lives since the days of Margaret Thatcher (the rioters were, after all, her grandchildren). This violence is the fragmentation of people’s lives, their ‘communities’ and families. It is the poverty in which they live and from which they can find no escape. It is the wealth they see but cannot acquire. (Hackney, for example, is an Olympic borough but has this improved the lives of its residents?) This greater violence is a ‘big society’ that alienates, disenfranchises and criminalises whole sections of our society. Can we really be so surprised when the poor take to the streets?

About the author

Akkas Al-Ali
Akkas Al-Ali is a playwright and director living in London. He tweets from @akkasistan.

42 Comments

gender agenda

Great article Akkas –

I have had such difficulty with the barrage of press suggesting that the rioters are somehow instrinsically animalistic people – whilst the word ‘black’ was used sparingly by mainstream channels but the same underlying paralells that have been historically made continue – i.e. that there exists a group of genetically inferior/ animal-like creatures in our society

To start on the foot that we are equally able until circumstances disable seems the most logical ffot to start on. And seems to be supported by social economic research more than the ‘genetically animalistic’ arguments. What an enlightened and factual article – thanks for laying out the related research too

this is brilliant! Such a great article, so many good point and a fantastic historical overview. I’ve learnt A LOT!
Shame it’s such a sad reality, it pains me to read about it mainly because I feel guilty and responsible for the situation in the country I’ve chosen to live in.
It leaves me thinking:
What is the solution? How do we go from here? What should I do?
Living in Peckham, I feel like I’m part of the problem rather then a solution…
We are trying to work with local community organisation to do art projects for local kids but I feel like an idiot talking about art to kids who are struggling to get food every day, who can not read or write well…. I fear the solutions we are providing are too dis-attached from their realities.
Still, great piece of writing.
Thank you!

A lucid, measured and intelligent article, that throws even starker light on the shameful and feckless drivel that most of the news media subjects us to, and to which a terrifying number of people gain gratification from. Could any of our illustrious leaders prove to be so knowledgeable in matters of socio-economic history? I think not. Thank you Akkas!

This is not just an historic overview of uprisings against economic oppression and police repression in the Black communities but it is an uncompromising statement of solidarity with the rebels. While most other commentators ritually deplore the “mindless violence” of these uprisings, Mr. Al-Ali makes no such concession and lays the blame squarely where it belongs. At a time when the British state is vindictively going after the kids in the courts and increasing police repression in the Black communities, this kind of unequivocal political solidarity is what is needed, standing in a solid phalanx of support against racism and injustice. (The rebels though might take issue with being called the grandchildren of Thatcher. Isn’t that like being called children of the devil?)

Is it racist to ask why a disproportionate amount of blacks are in British prisons? Is it because the police single them out or that courts are prejudiced? Or is it because they are most affected by poverty (hence the high occurrence of Bangladeshi mafia rings (not))?

Yes, these fine young people from Peckham, Lewisham, Hackney, and other poor boroughs are struggling to educate themselves and add to their skillsets: you see them on their bikes exchanging ideas and books all the time. Of course their parents are also investing heavily in their betterment by encouraging them to be fully involved in school and setting boundaries for their behaviour.

it’s simply that the government (and therefore tax payers who don’t need to participate in looting because they are over-privileged and conceited) does not throw enough money at these struggling kids. I so want my income to go to these kids because I know that they really deserve it: they are so trying to pick themselves up and get on in the world.

Excellent point! I want to quote the full paragraph here: “What remains of democracy is largely the right to choose among commodities. Business leaders have long explained the need to impose on the population a ‘philosophy of futility’ and ‘lack of purpose in life’, to ‘concentrate human attention on the more superficial things that comprise much of fashionable consumption’. Deluged by such propaganda from infancy, people may then accept their meaningless and subordinate lives and forget ridiculous ideas about managing their own affairs. They may abandon their fate to corporate managers and the PR industry and, in the political realm, to the self-described ‘intelligent minorities’ who serve and administer power.” Thank you for reminding me of this section of what is a monumental indictment of the current times!

Good try, but obviously you’re not being very original by co-opting Chomsky’s ideas. Apart from that your piece is blatently one-sided.

Do we really throw money at these people who last week were putting bricks through windows and stealing? Where does that money come from? Do we increase taxes or borrow more? Do we tax the “fatcats” and the rich?

Have you heard of the Laffer curve? The Laffer curve represents the relationship between government revenue and the rate of taxation. It shows that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point becomes counterproductive for raising further tax revenue. So maybe increasing taxes isn’t such a great idea? Can you come up with your own analysis concerning this rather than aping someone else’s?

What about people who work hard (i.e. 40 hour week in an office and not bumming around) for their families, but don’t start earning for themselves until after April because up to April the money goes to the government? Why should the government decide how their hard earned money is spent? Why does the government know better? Obviously this “right-wing” government doesn’t, but one led by someone who shares your ideals would, right?

mp: This is an open-ed piece – of course it’s one sided. If you want to peruse the other side, have a look at the links. I’ve been sufficiently fair-minded to link to people like Melanie Philips. This isn’t an A-Level essay in which every paragraph needs to be prefaced with either “On the one hand” or “But on the other hand”. As for “co-opting Chomsky” – he doesn’t really need to be “co-opted” on this issue.

Cameron and cronies would have it that there is a moral deficit operating here. Bad parenting, lack of discipline in schools, namby pamby welfarism, absence of moral guidance, black gangsta rap, naked greed etc. are all causes of the disturbances. Leaving aside the moral deficit at the top of society (greedy bankers, corrupt politicians, sleazy media empire builders, hacking journalists, thieving corporations) they do what every conservative commentator always does – mistake the symptoms for the cause. Their solution? Get the criminals, throw them in jail, expose them to public humiliation and evict them from their homes. Nothing about investment in jobs, housing, education, youth centres, training. Nothing about any measure that would constructively build communities instead of leaving them broken and in a state of limbo.

Thank goodness Akkas has given us both a history lesson and a deeper understanding of the root causes of the present disturbances. We’ve been here before and what disturbs me more than anything is the way the authorities have ignored the deaths of black people in the presence of police over the years. A couple of points to add:

1. Capitalism is an amoral system with the consumerist ethic being the highest ‘value’ that we are meant to aspire to. Problem with that?

2. We can create thousands of dead, thousands of refugees, an abundance of poverty and humiliation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya but that’s okay because these are ‘legitimate’ wars. Anything wrong with that?

3. I do need to raise the problem of what is it that hinders the formation of social solidarity, community, looking after neighbours etc.

its a shame that you seem to focus on the racial aspects too much. while they are relevant its very obvious that this is not a ‘black’ thing. your examples of people killed by police in the past do not include any who were carrying a handgun either. how is someone killed in police custody comparable with an armed man in public? this is about community breakdown yes but not race and not ‘the cuts’ as such. most cuts have not been implemented yet and most people dont know what they will be specifically. yes its poverty and yes its lack of opportunities but its also bad parenting and poor discipline in schools. you cant just look at this from a middle class liberal point of view. All the stuff about rap music and ‘becoming black’ is bullshit of course but lets not pretend these people didnt enjoy themselves. i live in hackney and my neighbours house was burgled on the sunday. the kids outside my window were laughing and having fun. a more balaned article would have been good. perhaps you should wait for the duggan enquiry before assuming he was a victim, in the same way that you would like people not to jump to conclusions the other way. seems a bit hypocrytical

I agree with dean33: the race card is played too strongly, there is no mention of parental responsibility, the blame is heaped on ‘cuts’ which is unfair — surely these looters/rioters are responsible for their own behaviour in some way even if their local youth club has been closed? and generally the view is unbalanced… in fact I would go further and say the view stinks of apologism, which is disgusting given the atrocious (and in many ways animalistic i would say) behaviour of these youts…

Your comment misses the point entirely. Why is it that on the one hand you gloss over the very real issue of institutional racism, while on the other you blow hot air about the fact that the rioters enjoyed themselves? The well documented culture of racism within metropolitan police forces is far far more frightening than that of the hedonism of people who are at the sharp end of the wedge no matter what economic climate the country is under. While most of the rioters were conscious of their actions (to varying degrees and with varying motivations), and took conscious enjoyment of them, and therefore were capable, or coerced into, taking conscious reflection on their actions during the riots and subsequently (which is not to valourise them but rather to try to point out that if you have a tough life your actions suffer far more scrutiny from yourself and disciplinary organisations, be they banks, the police, the judiciary or your family unit), the racism in the police force is a largely un-analysed and subsistent culture which is so blatantly pervasive in the way many people think.

All States have a way of ‘rationalising’ their faults under the carpet, i.e. no State manages to facilitate for the security and prosperity of all its citizens, precisely because the economic rationale of States relies upon the idea that resources are scarce and therefore we must have a hierarchy of prosperity to distribute the resources in a ‘rational’ fashion. This ‘rationalising’ boils down to a logic that is no better or more complex than a strategy of consistent persecution of a certain economic class whose existence makes patently clear the moral bankruptcy of the society as a whole. That is, their poverty, in a country that prides itself on being a ‘world power’, makes it starkly apparent that we live in a society where selfishness, hypocrisy and spite are the leading forms of social comprehension and relation. As Akkas makes clear, there is an incredible amount of wealth available yet most of us that help produce it will never see it again- it is sloughed off by a minority to become ‘global’ capital for the global minority of plutocrats. And who would most people rather blame for our woes?

So why is it so important to highlight that fact that the police force is geared up to discipline a minority of people in a way that no one else suffers? Because if we allow this subsistent ignorance to continue- the unconscious culture of blaming black people and immigrants for the economic problems of the country- then a national culture of ignorance and irrationality will be reinforced by an authoritarian machinery of persecution which much like other more extreme examples of the ‘rationalising’ powers of these institutions, will be motivated by an unconscious enjoyment in reinforcing inequality based around the construction of a scapegoat, who lazy bigots can blame for a situation they helped bring about by maintaining the power of a selfish, profligate government. The police have ever been the ‘legitimate’ face of a ruling elite’s desire to quash all opposition, and by buying into their loosely veiled impartiality you are buying into the maintenance of a status quo which is orchestrated so as to pretend that everything is working well and the system is benign and abundant for all. This is total and utter mythology.

hey I have no idea who you are or where your from. I found this page by accident and had a look. i never said you were middle class. i said you were looking at it from a middle class liberal point of view, which you are. i remember the brixton riots very well and those other cases. how old are you out of interest? your comparissons have a lot of holes

Tess. I managed to get to the end of your long paragraph and I have to say that I got the point that you feel I am glossing over institutional racism in the police force and that you are generally very very angry about the state of the world, but the rest kind of it went over my head in the same way that most sermons do.

Regarding your sensible point concerning institutional racism in the police force: I am myself an immigrant and have worked for the police as an interpreter. I have to say that I have met many ethnic minorities in the police force and being one myself I did not experience this institutional racism, though I am not denying it exists.

But seriously, I do not blame the government or the police for the riots. I blame the people responsible first: the rioters and looters. Maybe there is a case to be made that parents should be more responsible for their children’s behaviour too. You’re free to disagree of course and rail against the right wing politicians and the racist police force and the corporate elite sucking the lifeblood out of our innocent children. But then maybe you took part in the riots yourself in some way and you’re trying to justify your own behaviour?

dean33: I lived on Railton Road, Brixton, at the time of the 1981 riots. One thing the Scarman Enquiry brought out was the heavy-handed policing of black youth. The beatings and deaths in police custody or in the presence of police of a number of black people didn’t help the situation. The ‘Sus’ laws in the years prior to the riots were used to stop, search and harass thousands of black youth. With the para-military presence of the Special Patrol Group and saturation plain clothes policing during ‘Operation Swamp’ the whole thing just exploded. The only surprise expressed by many people in the area at the time was that the riots hadn’t come sooner. The SPG were disbanded at a later date because of their continuing thuggish policing at demonstrations and picket lines. In the latest round of rioting no-one excuses the criminal behaviour of the looters, robbers and arsonists. This was not a political demonstration but the rioting is symptomaitc of deeper political, social and economic causes. Lack of investment and job/training opportunites, the sheer boredom and alienation of everyday life, the consumerist ethic and lack of social solidarity/neighbourliness in localities produce a sense of hopelessness. With record levels of youth unimpoymnent this isn’t going to improve any time soon. Maybe it these conditions that produce ‘bad parenting’ and not the other way round.

ok well i didnt need the brixton lesson because i was around then!! i dont accept excuses for bad parenting. i dont care how miserable the parents lives are, there are wankers out there, some poor, some rich. no excuses. why are there rich wankers if they have the perfect set of opportunities growing up? I dont buy the ’causes’ stuff at all. thats not to say i dont think we should sort society out, i definately do. was hitler a nice kid corrupted by being a tramp and bullied? im not so sure. i reckon he would have been like that if he’d gone to plumbing school to.

San

This a fantastic insight in to the riots. I have really learnt a great deal from this. A point of view the state refuses to show and deal with.

Just what I think needs to be read by so many people…facts of the matter are that the riots were an effect of actions taken by a ‘government’ which continues to demonstrate such disregard for it’s nation’s poorest. The behaviour of the rioters is not being condoned by those speaking out on their behalf. We are more interested in what has caused this behaviour, children were rioting, children who are lost…people are continuously asking ‘where are the parents?’, why is it that you expect the parents to know what to do? Anyone actually consider what lifestyle the parents have to live with everyday? Who is helping them? A teacher is convinced that the cancelletion of the Education Maintenance Grant has a lot to do with what has happened here; if college is no longer an option due to lack of funds and you can’t get a job because you’ve no qualifications why bother? 75% of cuts to the Youth Service…the sad thing is, this is an ongoing problem in society, will it ever be rectified? Will this unrest be swept under the carpet and just continue to be recognised as ‘pure criminality’? (this notion of ‘pure criminality’ is just ‘mere propaganda’ in my eyes) or will the likes of Akkas actually be heard?

im fascinated to know whether you have any children. I have 3 – 9/14 and 16. I am working for minimum wage (in truth a tad above) and the notion that you expect parents to get ‘help’ and to be told ‘what to do’ strikes me as insane. i take full responsability for raising my kids and dont expect a bunch of middle/upper class tosspots in government to help me out in raising them. im a capable human being and dont use excuses for my poor parenting. If I make a bad decision regarding my children I admit it and dont blame ‘society’. I find that attitude atterly pathetic. what is humanity coming too when people cant take even basic responsability.

Dean, I can see how it comes across, in my response that I believe that parents hold no responsibility for their children. Fact of the matter is, this was not my intention at all. Parents most certainly do have a resposibility to their children and should be the most influential in their lives. However, sometimes a financial position of a family can have an impact on the amount of time that can be spent nuturing and socialisng children into a society that is up against them being able to make decent achievements. Moreover, i am sure that some of the parents involved were basically children themselves when they became parents. In my view, the government has a responsibilty to ensure that all families have access to the same opporunities. I don’t believe that they are there to raise children, nor do I believe that it is the job of the school. I do believe that there are more factors involved when children act out. It’s fantastic that you don’t blame society for your bad parenting skills, A LOT do, it’s also fantastic that you have access to something like this, and the fact that you are educated enough to pass comment in the way that you have. I too am ‘fascinated’ did you leave school at 16? I am a parent to 2 children, in response to your question.

ok thats a much better way of putting it. im fine with that. i just hate it when people expect ‘help’. i agree that we should all have the opportunities, in fact im very against that not being the case. I know there are elite circles that look afetr their own and keep everyone else out. mates of the elite get good jobs and good opportunities. ive been in crap jobs all my life so I know how frustrating it is when you cant see a path to something better. My problem is that I dont feel it takes much education to know that its banks and tax avoiders who are part of this elite and not cornershops etc. I left school at 17 and dont know much history/politcs other than in my lifetime and whats happened around me. everyone knows about the bankers and rich people, even kids on the street. why not attack the banks? I would have actually supported that as a principle. my road was in the trouble and these people were not angry and frustrated, they were loving it. all other examples such as brixton (which i remember) had a very different (more motivated) vibe. I dont equate this with the previous examples, only very loosely as there are social factors.
race is not an issue for me this time. these people would know a lot more about who the tax avoiders are than ‘the cuts’. I know very little about exactly what is being cut. my kids have no clue, my friends no clue. we all know basic info about who the elite are. focus please. if im bullied at school and then I go and bully another kid to take out my frustration, I deserve no sympathy for that, even though there is a reason. too much weight is attached to reasons. not all reasons deserve sympathy.
lastly. im not that educated and while i may have been reasonably clear, none of my points are based on education, just living in london for 35 years. ill stop now, all the best D

Very good article. I would add that a major factor of the anger that led to the riots is the constant police harassment of young people and racial profiling that leads to many black men being stopped and searched more times than they can remember, a lot of the anger from young people comes from that I have found in the youth work I’m involved in…and that the education system is so obviously lying to them, as well as all that you pointed out! Since the riots there have been two murders of men by the police in as many weeks. This is what makes our young people want to smash society up, they did not break society, they just smashed up a few shops.

ok so if you disagree with my question why did you state ‘333 deaths’ as opposed to ‘333 murders’?. Yes policemen need to be scrutinised better but we cant refer to murder lightly either. all im trying to do is get a proper balance. using the wrong terms can make peoples emotions appear to override their intelligence and thats when I start to loose trust in their ideas.

Abdul

“Can we really be so surprised when the poor take to the streets?”

Yes we can. Spain has 49% youth unemployment compared to the UK’s 20%. Why is it they do not feel it necessary to go on a mass looting spree?

Very shoddy reasoning by blaming the whole affair on cuts (most of which have not yet come into force).

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